Unseen
by Lyndotia
Summary: Oneshot, Jess's POV. Lost scene s from pilot episode, sequel to "An Old Friend." Jess watches Sam pack and leave okay, maybe eavesdropping a little... but it's her apartment, too, so it doesn't count and thinks about where he is going.


Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters.

A/N: Yeah, I know; I said I was going to write this fic a month ago. Well, guess what? College takes a heck of a lot of time off your schedule so that you have very little left for other projects. Oh, and I've been reading Maximum Ride. Heh. Awesomeness when you're bored to tears in Composition I because your teacher's going over grammar crap that you've known since fifth grade, let me tell you. (And Iggy's awesomeness anytime, anyway. :P)

But anyway, continuing on! This is the sequel to a previous Supernatural oneshot I wrote by the title of "An Old Friend." You don't have to read it to understand this fic, but it would help you better understand who Cadence is and also the reason I wrote these two ficlets. Sort of lost scene/couple of scenes from the pilot episode. No OC's in this fic, though one is referenced.

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**Unseen**

"You're really going?" Jess asked in a near whisper as she came to stand in the doorway of the bedroom she shared with Sam, where he was packing up a duffel bag. He almost jumped out of his skin, probably too tense and thinking too hard to pay attention to the floorboards squeaking, for once. Jess might have smiled at that ordinarily, but right now, she was worried about him.

"Yeah," Sam answered, nodding without turning around. He was still stuffing things into his bag, and he wasn't even bothering to fold anything. That was… kind of unlike him, she thought, remembering how he had folded everything neatly even when he was moving everything he owned when they had first leased the apartment.

Apparently nothing more was forthcoming, so Jess took a few steps forward and put a slim hand on his shoulder. Sam was still for a moment and then put his own hand on top of hers, completely hiding it because his hands were so much bigger.

Jess started to smile, but then noticed his expression. It was hard, resigned; the sort of look she had never seen in his eyes before. No, this was not going to be some sort of joyous homecoming for him, and she knew that. He had… issues with his family, to say the least. (After all, what kind of people disowned someone for going to college!?) But Jess had never seen Sam look so… well, so close to being actually _frightened_. And the fact that something was weighing on him so much made her feel both sad and a little scared.

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Jess moved closer to the doorframe, being careful to remain in the shadows. It wasn't really eavesdropping, she told herself; she had as much of a right as anyone to understand why Sam was really leaving and what had upset him so much. Because God knew that his dad getting drunk in a cabin somewhere certainly wasn't going to do that.

"… realize what it could mean, right?" Dean was saying as he unlocked the trunk of his car.

"Yeah," Sam answered quietly, his voice almost a whisper. The sound sent a stabbing pain through Jess's chest as she recognized the tone. It was the same one he had used last summer, when their friend Mark had killed himself taking Dead Man's Curve at eighty miles per hour.

"No, I mean – well, that _is_ what I mean, I'm just saying –"

"Cadence found me, too, Dean."

A crease appeared between Jess's eyebrows. Cadence? That girl who had shown up at the café on Sam's birthday? What did she have to do with this?

"Oh," Dean said, nodding, and his jaw was suddenly a grim line. "She told you what she saw, then?"

"Felt, more like," Sam corrected, and he was frowning now. "But yeah. Not that it was very clear or anything, but with her, it's hit-and-miss."

"Then you know it might be bad," Dean stated, one hand on the trunk of the car as the other clenched into a fist.

"Yeah."

"You know it might not be just him."

Sam swallowed and glanced back toward the apartment building. Jess shrank back into the shadows a little more, but apparently he didn't see her because he looked back at the car and repeated softly, "Yeah."

Dean just nodded jerkily and slammed the trunk shut. "All right, then," he half growled out, looking suddenly stern. "What are we waiting on, a front-row ticket to Hell?"

"Something like that," Sam muttered, and he too looked very grim.

---

As the lights of the Impala faded into the distance toward the end of the street, Jess wrapped her arms around herself and slowly took a couple of steps back toward the apartment. Something was wrong with this picture, even more than she had first thought when Sam's brother had suddenly shown up in the dead of night. She would call him first thing in the morning, she decided; leave a voicemail if he didn't answer, and keep calling until he did.

Whatever it was that he was speeding off to, Jess only hoped that he would be all right.


End file.
